Washington state wants to institute a revamped law to require boating
drivers licenses. To those in states who have such laws, what are the pros
and cons of your system and does it prevent accidents etc or is it just
another red tape gizmo to collect money for the state?
Thanks in advance
Gordon

Where did you hear that?

As far as I know, there is no proposal to require a license to boat.

A group called WAMBE (Washington Alliance for Mandatory Boater Education) has
drafted a bill that would eventually require anybody operating a boat powered
by more than 10HP to carry a card that certifies they have completed a very
basic
boating safety course. At this point, they are still looking for a legislator
to sponsor it. Similar proposals have died in committee during each of the last
several legislative sessions, so there is no big push on "by the State of
Washington" to pass this proposal.

Even if the proposal passes, there are some important differences between a
boating safety education card and a "license". To begin with, a license has to
be renewed at regular intervals, and a fee is customarily collected at each
renewal. The boating safety education card, once issued, is good for the life
of the card holder and never needs to be renewed.

Another major difference between a license and a boating safety card is that
the court system can revoke a license if somebody misbehaves while pursuing the
activity permitted by the license. The proposition drafted by WAMBE calls for a
card that is irrevocable, as it should. One either has acquired the knowledge
represented by the card, or has not, and future errors, accidents, or crimes
won't change the fact that the card holder completed the minimum education
requirements.

The proposal sets the fee for obtaining the card at $15. This is not an annual
fee, but a once-in-a-lifetime expense to offset the cost of adding a boater to
the database and issuing a card. The only other fee a boater might be faced
with is a similar charge to replace a card that gets lost or stolen.

I don't know about others, but $15 just about pays the sales tax on one of my
regular visits to the marine supply store. A lot of guys burn $15 worth of gas
in a matter of minutes. The state isn't going to wind up with a huge slush fund
processing applications and issuing cards at $15 each, and in the grand scheme
of boat expenses $15 might as well be $zero.

One of the reasons previous proposals have died is that some of them didn't
have a funding provision built in. The $15 is supposed to correct that.

Qualifying to carry the card is extremely easy. Anybody who has passed a course
such as "Boat Smart" or any other short, introductory safety course offered by
the USCGA or a Power Squadron need only present a their certificate of
completion, from any time in the past, and they will be
issued a card.

Those who have been boating for a number of years and are confident that they
have a good body of knowledge about boating safety do *not* have to sit through
several sessions where an Auxiliary or Squadron instructor lectures on the
diffrences between the types of PFD's, the dangers of hypothermia, basic
equipment requirements, etc. There is a provision for a "challenge" test,
rather than attending a formal class. Those who can pass a challenge test
demonstrating that they know as much as the graduates of an elementary,
introductory safety class never need to set foot in a classroom. Those who
*cannot* pass such a test belong in the classroom, IMO.

If the bill passes next year, the boating public will be required to comply by
age groups. The youngest boaters will have to comply right away. Boaters who
are currently at or approaching retirement age will have until 2016 to acquire
a card.